Marketing is like a tree...

So bear with me on this one! I love marketing. But I also really love analogies, as most people close to me will know. I think they help me make sense of things and while I was drying my hair this morning (this is my key thinking time, along with showering, driving and teeth cleaning), I realised that marketing that really works, and is strategic, is like a tree.

This came to me because I’m currently writing a strategy for a client and I was thinking about how essential that element is before you jump in and start actually doing the ‘stuff’.

The roots – this is your business plan. Before I write any kind of strategy I always ask to see a business plan, because how can you work out what you are marketing if you don’t know what you want to achieve? Budget, audience, research, competitors; basically what your business will do and how you want to do it.

It really is the foundation to build everything else upon. It’s probably also how you got any financial approval :-).

The trunk - the marketing strategy. The main structure. It holds everything else up and is strong; everything else grows from it. Take the business plan, work out how these translate into the main elements of how you want to market yourself and what this will achieve. For example, initial recognition, growth from where you are already, diversification – I tend to find that there are between four and seven objectives like this within each strategy.

I really do believe you need a strategy before you go into anything else, because you can plan, come back to it and see where you’ve progressed, and also what you might need to change to keep moving forward.

The branches – your marketing plan. Often overlooked, but so essential; once the strategy is in place, you then need to operationalise it and work out the exact detail of what you will do and when. As anyone who’s ever worked with me knows, part of how I take this forward is via a Gantt chart so I can see the full scope of the project, and the key dates.

If your strategy is where you want to get to, your plan is the roadmap of exactly how you will get there (see, another analogy). This will start to look at content, channels, timings, and what deadlines you need to hit. It also obviously considers the key thing – your audience.

The leaves (....and possibly flowers / fruit if you're lucky) – the content and collateral. This is the part everyone sees and pays attention to...the pretty bit. Social posts, blogs, multichannel campaigns, print. It’s where a lot of the creativity comes into play and leads to working with a range of professionals like designers, copyeditors and digital experts. But, it all still comes back to that initial strategy. The less glamorous trunk. To take my slightly cheesy analogy even further, the content acts as the photosynthesis for the tree – the better it does (or actually the worse it does, so you know what isn’t working), it feeds back into the tree and enables it grow.

Each bit of this process plays its part, and if all these different components are working as they should, the tree will keep growing and get better and better. Each factor isn’t only important individually, but they all work as a complete system in a cycle. Constantly revisiting all of the mentioned elements, but especially your strategy, is key.

See! Marketing is definitely a tree.